Festival of Fools
by honeysuckelvine
Summary: October Tenth is a happy day for all but one villager. Well, it's time that changed!


Title: Festival of Fools  
Rating PG  
Pairing: Naru/Kaka (only a mention of it at end)  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
Warning: This was a reply to a challenge so I know that his birthday is over and that isn't why I write this.  
Summery: October Tenth is a happy day for all but one villager. Well, it's time that changed!

"Where is the dobe?" inquired Sasuke.

It was October tenth and the festival in honor of the Fourth was about to begin. Kakashi had threatened Sasuke with training with Gai-Sensei if he didn't come. Sakura heard the plan and tagged along.

Naruto however, was nowhere to be found. "How late is that idiot going to be?" He fumed.

Kakashi began to walk away before calling back over his shoulder. "Naruto won't be joining us tonight."

"What? You only made me come?!" Sasuke was outraged.

Kakashi stopped to smirk at his students. "You would have stayed at home and been as anti social as possible so I had to make you come to keep you from being all alone tonight. Sakura only needed to hear that you where coming. Nothing could have kept her away after that." He began to walk again.

Sakura was puzzled now to, "What about Naruto? He doesn't have anyone else to be with. Why didn't you get him to come to?"

"Naruto's reasons for not coming are good ones. I would never make him come to the festival."

The younger two looked to each other for enlightenment that would not be found. "What reason could that possibly be?" asked Sasuke petulantly.

Kakashi stopped again but refused to look at them, "That is his story to tell."

The evening wore on with Sasuke and Sakura pestering the Jounin to tell them about the teammate that they usually ignored when he was present.

All in all, they were managing to enjoy themselves for the most part. As they worked their way through the crowd, they began to pick up other members from their rookie class and team Gai.

They overheard team seven's questions for their teacher and turned to their own sensei for answers.

"W... Where is… is Naruto-Kun?" stuttered Hinata.

The teachers started to lose their collective patience. "You wouldn't want us to tell all of your secrets to a bunch of whiny brats so respect Naruto's privacy and leave us alone." Burst out Asuma.

A friendly voice drew all eyes to the left, "Wow! This is a lot of familiar faces in one place." Iruka-Sensei chirped.

Kakashi went horribly still, "What the hell are you doing here?" He shouted at the poor Chuunin.

"What are you yelling at me for?" Iruka demanded.

"He said that you where coming over to be with him tonight! The only reason I didn't go myself was because he said that you where coming over to be with him!"

The younger ninja were shocked to see the Copy-cat Ninja so flustered and upset. Just who was it that they were talking about?' They all thought.

Understanding immediately, the academy teacher became just as concerned, "He told me that he was going to be with Ichiraku Ayame and Ichiraku Teuchi. They where planning to sit in the shop and hang out all night."

Chouji piped up, "I was just there. The shop is open and serving customers. Who are you looking for?"

The two teachers studied each other before turning to the group. Kakashi spoke first, "I have a very important mission for you all. Failure is not an option."

All ears perked up while Iruka finished for the Jounin, "Find Naruto and meet back at his place."

"What?' Yelled Kiba, "What has that fool gone and done now?"

"Don't talk about him that way!" Snapped the ever gentle Iruka.

Kakashi placed a hand on the distraught mans shoulder and explained. "Naruto might be in danger and we need to find him now. I can't tell you everything but I can tell you that the villagers hate him and that this day especially is dangerous for him."

He only allowed them a few seconds to absorb the new information, "Last year, he was dragged from his apartment and beaten badly."

The gasps of shock where not only from the students, "They still treat him that horribly?" asked Kurenai-Sensei.

"The way that he is treated is reprehensible. " Shouted Iruka.

Sakura had had enough of being ignored. "What is going on here? I have never seen Naruto treated badly by anyone."

Kakashi directed a disappointed expression at her. "You just never looked. He is glared at and ignored every day. We have gone out to eat and he was refused service right in front of you. Hell, you even treat him badly every day and never even notice what you are doing."

She reared back as though she were slapped. She tried to formulate an argument but found herself unable.

She did treat him badly, and she had no idea why. She never noticed any glares, yet she did notice strange behavior at restaurants. His food was always wrong, dropped, or forgotten. Everyone else would finish and complain about him holding them up so he would just skip the meal all together. He only got to eat when they went to Ichiraku's.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Why does this happen to him? Why do they hate such a nice person?"

Shikamaru decided to join the conversation, "It's the Kyuubi isn't it?"

The students turned to him for an explanation and the teachers roared at him in anger.

"You are not to talk about that!" His teacher hollered and smacked him across the head.

Shikamaru glared at them all. "It wasn't hard to figure out you know. A second chakra that is red and takes on a fox form? He must be the vessel."

He said that so calmly that it was a little while until the other students realized what he said. They all began to scream out questions and curses.

Teachers were livid with Shikamaru and the students wanted details. It took a bit but everyone calmed down and the teachers explained the truth about what had really happened on October tenth and that it was Naruto's eighteenth birthday.

At first, TenTen, Shino, and Ino sided with the villagers. They didn't understand the difference between a container and a demon until their teammates pounded it into them physically and verbally.

At last, calm was again restored. "No more delay! We have to find him now!"

Everyone dashed off to search for the hyper blond. They looked everywhere. The Monument, the forest and all the parks were devoid of his presence. The Hokage claimed that she hadn't seen him in two days and helped them in the search.

They all met up at his apartment at the prearranged time for a check in. Iruka had a spare key that he used to let them in with. Imagine the surprise of everyone when they found him sitting in his bedroom!

"What the hell is going on here? What are you all doing barging into my house?" He was outraged.

Iruka stepped forward to confront the blond, "You lied to your teachers and we panicked. Unfortunately, all of them," he gestured at the rest of the party, "were with us at the time and Shikamaru let the fox out of the bag."

Naruto appeared alarmed. He tried to dart from the room but his friends stopped him.

"It is all right! No one cares about the fox. We were all just worried about you! Why did you lie to us?" Iruka continued.

Naruto's eyes shifted about fearfully as though not quite trusting his friends yet. "I didn't want you to miss out on any of the fun today. I have been alone on this day my whole life and saw no reason why any of you should miss out just to baby-sit me."

Kiba had a question, "Why don't you go to the festival Naruto?"

Kiba's head was instantly throbbing from the multiple hits it received.

Naruto looked sadly at his friends. "It is hard enough be the focus of all the hate in the village on a daily basis but on this day, if I go into town, thy will kill me."

"What if they can't tell which one is you?" a mischievous grin was spread across Shikamaru's face. "I have a plan!"

They all knew that a plan made by the genius was guaranteed to succeed and this was no exception. Fifteen minutes later, the peaceful city of Konoha was in an uproar. Hundreds of Narutos had swarmed through the streets.

A few stupid people assumed that it was just the freak's clone technique and attempted to pop a few. They where badly mistaken as the Henge no Jutsu would disappear to reveal the form a respected family member or a Naruto supporter who could beat the crap out of the idiot who had attacked them.

The word had been spread fast. All those who supported the kind hearted blond boy, were to Henge into him and enjoy the fair. Naruto was able to wander freely and have the time of his life while his friends got to mete out some justice.

By the end of the night, Naruto's enemies had come to the conclusion that they were out powered and out manned. The more people who supported Naruto, the more other people realized that they could now support him without fear for themselves.

Naruto was thrilled. He got to see that the road to the Hokage tower was not nearly as long as it used to be. He also found that his friends would stand by him no matter what and that was the greatest feeling of his life.

He couldn't help but think that if they accepted a giant evil fox living in his belly, then they might also accept his long time relationship with Kakashi.

Hmmm?

He might just have to talk to his lover later tonight!


End file.
